Artificial limb.



H'. HANGER. ARTIFICIAL LIMB. APPLICATION FILED APR. 20. 190B.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

HOOVER HANGER, OF WASHINGTON, DIS'I'RICT'OF COLUMBIA. I

an'rmcmr. L113.-

No. 907,14e.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 20, 1908. Serial No. 428,193.

i Patented 1290.92 1008.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Hoovnn HANGER, of Washington, District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful lmprovement in. Artificial Limbs, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification.

This invention relates to the construction of artificial limbs, and has for its. object to improve the construction of an artificial limb of thecharacter shown and described in U. S. Patentto Hanger, #465,698, granted December 22d, 1891. In that patent the in step lever marked 13 is mortised in the solid part of the ankle, and the rubber bumpers or cushions mai'ked 16 contact therewith at one end, and at the other end rest u on the solid portion of the heel of the foot. oreovei, in the actual constructi "n of device of this character, the said r ldber bum ers have been made of pieces of rubber w ich were rectangular in cross-section. In practical 0 eration it has been found that by mortising t e solid ankle portion, this portion is not only more or less weakened by reason of the mortise, but that portion of the mortise lying immediately below the rear end of the instep lever" 13 has been neatly filled with an inserted piece of wood. It has been found necessary to secure said instep lever, marked 13 in said patent, in 1place by means of screws passing through t e lever and into the wood of the ankle, which still further weakens the parts, In addition to this weakening effect, it has been found that an unnecessary amount of time is consumed in neatly IIlOItiSiDP. the seat for the inste lever, in serting the required piece or b ock in the mortise to fill out the space below the rear end of the lever, and to finish oil the rear ortion of the ankle. Furthermore, it has been found that in use the rubber builers 16 in the heel of thefoot were chewed or Worn partially in two, so that they had their elastic action decreased and eventually wore out and had to be replaced. Furthermore, since the heel portion of the foot was of wood, thelimb when in actual use had the peculiar thum ing wooden-leg sound which is objectiona 1c.-

The object of the present invention is to obviate the objections above noted, and to introduce certain improvements in other arts of the structure which will be more lly hereinafter described and then pointed out in the claims.

; I /iccording to the present invention, the

tion 0 the inste lever, but there is bored through the soil ortion of the ankle wood,

a hole into which t e instep lever fits snugly, and instead of being secured in place by screws as heretofore, the rear end of the lever is slightly split and a Wedge driven therein, thereby firmly locking the lever in the desired position withoutweakening the ankle ortion in which it is placed or the lever itself, and the whole is performed much more neatly and with very much less skilled labor. Furthermore, by the present invention the solid heel of the foot has a vertical opening cut entirely through the same, and the.rubber bumper is placed in said socket or opening with its u per end resting against the solid wood of the ankle portion of the limb, while its lower end projects slightly below the bottom of the heel of the foot and is held in place is a suitable heel covering of leather, prefers 1y buckskin leather, with one or more layers of suitable cushioning material as felt, interposed between the rubber and the heel leather. I have also discovered that if a piece of rubber which is circular in crosssection is employed instead of rectangular in cross-section as heretofore. the chewing ao- I tlon above mentioned is eliminated. Moreover, the jar to the user of the limb present in the previous constructions is avoided, and the peculiar woodendeg thumping is entirely eliminated by the cushioning action of the rubber buiier and the leather covering .there for at the heel,

.It has heretofore been proposed tointro duce between the instep portion of the limb and the toe portion thereof suitable toe springs to give the elastic toe action to the foot, this spring in some constructions being of metal and sometimes of rubber, the rubber when employed having been rectangular in cross-section and composed of a single piece. In order to getthe requisite elastic action, it was necessary that the piece of rubberbe so large that the limited area of wood constituting the toe portion had to be largely cut away in order to provide a socket or-seat for the spring therein. This materially weakened the foot at a point where considerable strain occurs, and in addition to this the rectangular cross-sectional form ,ofthe rubber resulted in the destructive chewing action mentioned in connection with the heel bum e'r.r In the resent constxhction, I have .0 vieted this ifliculty by ankle ortion is not mortised for the recep i the limited toe section.

variety of mechanical ex introducing two smaller toe springs composed of rods ,of rubber circular in cross-section. By this means I not only avoid the destructive chewing action on the rubber, but I am enabled to employ even more of the, elastic cushionin material without injuriously weakening t ewood of the toe poru, since the two similar sections can be placed in similar sockets, and therefore a relatively less amount of wood is cut out of The inventive ideav involved may receive a I'GSSI'OIIS, one of which for the purpose of" ustrating the inyention isshown in the accompanying draw- 1 mgs, 111 which- Figure 1 is a vertical central longitudinal v section through the foot and ankle portion;

w ioh is necessarily composed of some andF i 2 is a erspective view, showing the parts isassembled to more fully illustrate the construction.

Referring to the drawings, 2 is the ankle portion which is hollow at its upper art, but at its lower part 3 is solid, the who composed of some very light wood, preferably willow, since it is essential in limbs of this construction that the two elements of lightness and strength should be combined in a single article. There is bored in' a forwardly and downwardly inclined direction a hole or opening 4 in the ankle piece, and ti htly fitted therein is the instep'lever 5, very strong wood, such as hickory. The rear end of the instep lever 5 isslightly split and a wedge 6 is driven therein so as to tightly the solid wood of wedge the wood of the instep portion 5 into the ankle portion 3. It that by this construction will be observed the ankle remains so id and intact as indicated at 7; that neither this ankle portion nor the instep lever '5 is weakened by means of any fastening screws or other devices to hold the instep lever in its seat; and that the work can be expeditiously performed;

The main foot portion 8 is hinged to the instep portion in the following manner: A pintle or pin 9 is secured to the ankle portion y bolts 10, which are rigidly connected to the pintle, and pass upward through the solid part of the ankle into the hollow portion 2 thereof, where they are engaged by nuts 11. Passing over the pintle 9 is a yoke 12 whose two lower arms pass downward through the wood of the foot portion 8, and are engaged by nuts 18', 13, thereby s'ecurely locking the foot to the ankle portion, but permitting a play of the foot to a limited ex; tent around the pintle 9. For the pur es of locking the nuts 13, 13, so as to avoir ac cldental turning of the same, a nut lock inthe form of a block 14 is placed betweenthe nuts and screwed to the wood of the foot by the screw 15. Any suitable means for cause being ortion below the instep lever 5- spring, the wooden-leg thumping, scfi this leather covering t eremay be placed, if

desired, a suitable cushioning material 19 of felt, leather, or other ap ropriate material. In the rear lower face 0 the solid wood of the ankle portion 3, there is formed a socket 20, and the upper end of apiece of rubber 21 which is round in cross-section, is seated in the socket 20, with its lower end resting upon the cushioning material 19, or directly upon the leather 18 if such cushioning materia be not employed.

Formed in'the front end of the'foot portion 8 are two sockets 22, and immediately opposite the sockets 22 in the toe portion 23 t ere are formed two corresponding sockets 24, and two pieces of rubber 25, substantially equal in length and circular in crosssection, are seated with their res ective ends in the sockets 22 and 24, as wi be readily understood from an inspection of the drawings. It will be observed that by this means a strong and effective toe spring is provided without unnecessarily cutting away the WOOdiIl the toe portion 23 to provide the sockets for the seating of the toe spri s. Preferably the ball of the foot is covered leather 26, with interposed cushioning material, as felt 27, and preferably also thecutaway portion 28 between the foot and the toe portions is covered by a suitable piece of leat er 29.

It will be observed that in use the jar of the step when the heel of the foot comes against the floor or ground is absorbed by the rubber heel spring or bumper 21, and that the line of weight passes directly down through the solid ankle portion and the heel s ring to the ground, w1thout bringing any direct jar or weight upon the foot portion, and that as the ankle and other portions of the limb move forward in the act of taking a step, the said ,heel spring has ample opportunity for play without any chewm or abrading action against the parts. oreover, it will be observed that by reason of the fact that the stroke of the heel against the I ground or floor falls entirely upon the added heel portion and is absorbed by the eel objecbe en:

tionable in limbs of this character, w1 tirely 'elimin ated.

By means of the construction herein described, the limb may be made very light;

lever can 'be rigidly l wardly therefrom, a foot-piece hinged to said the necessary instep without unnecessarily anl lepiece, and an elastic heel piece or fixed in its position weakening the ankle portion; the objectionable noises in the use of the limb are obviated; the jar upon the wearer is overcome; and the wear of the heel spring against the foot-piece hinged thereto and having a vertiadjoining parts is entirely eliminated, since I c-al openin through the heel portion thereof, have discovered that by constructing the l a pliable c osure for the bottom of said openheel spring ofrubber that is round in crossing, and a heel spring formed of a piece'of section instead of rectangular, the same may i remain in use without any appreciable wear thereon. It will therefore appear that by my invention 1 have devised a limb that is strong, cheaply built, ellicient in operation, and very durable.

What i. claim is: 1.. In an artificial limb, a solid ankle- 1 iece having a forwardly and downwardly in-' elined bore formed therein, an instep lever wedged into said here and projecting forpieee bears.

2. In an artificial limb, an anl le-p1ece, a

other end on the under side of said anklepiece.

In testimony whercofl have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HOOVER HAN GER.

at one end on said pliable closure and at the l Witnesses:

W. KERKAM, RU'ri-r C. FITZHUGK.

rubber circular in crosssection and bearing spring on which the rear part of said ankle- 

